AI illustration: SpaceX catches the Ship with the tower on the next Starship flight
SpaceXSpace
Pending

SpaceX catches the Ship with the tower on the next Starship flight

“Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on next flight”
— Elon Musk · Jul 25, 2026 · @elonmusk on X ↗
See his original post on XLoads Elon's actual tweet, right here.
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The fine print

Posted July 25 2026, the day after Starship Flight 13 (launched July 24). SpaceX has caught the Super Heavy booster with the launch-tower 'chopstick' arms since Flight 5 (Oct 2024) but has never attempted to catch the Ship (the upper stage). 'Next flight' means the flight after Flight 13 (i.e. Flight 14); Musk had earlier said 'Starship catch is probably flight 13 to 15.' The attempt is conditional on a clean Flight 13 data review. Deadline set to end-2026 as the implied window for that next flight.

The Progression

Jul 25, 2026
The promise: “Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on next flight” · @elonmusk on X ↗
Today · Jul 25, 2026
Status: Pending · 159 days left. Still waiting.

On July 25 2026, a day after Starship Flight 13, Elon Musk posted that SpaceX would attempt to catch the Ship — Starship's upper stage — with the launch tower on the next flight, barring problems found in the mission data review. SpaceX has routinely caught the Super Heavy booster with the tower's chopstick arms since 2024 but has never tried to catch the returning upper stage, a key step toward full and rapid reusability.

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LAST CHECKED 2026-07-25

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